Western Michigan University - Brown and Gold Yearbook (Kalamazoo, MI)

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1 ' ' ? ' 1 «i The interior of the Chapel finished in 1951. Three Growth of Curricula We have traced the material growth of West- ern during its first fifty years, but the story of a college is not written in buildings and land, for it is the classes offered and the educational policy behind those classes that shape a college. We have seen how Western was established as a part of the Michigan teacher training system, and how Dwight Waldo as one of his first acts established the first rural education department in the normal schools of the United States. The story of West ' ern is largely told in two areas: the requirements for teaching and how Western was affected by them; also the preparation of students for other fields than teaching. At the beginning, Western offered three cours- es: A life certificate course, a three year course, and a rural school course. Of these the Hfe cer- tificate was to be the most important course. The requirements for entering students are significant : for the life certificate course, two years of high school, to be followed by four years at Western, or four years of high school to be followed by two years at Western. The three year course required four years of high school, but only took one year and one summer at Western. The rural course was open to anyone who completed the eighth grade, and took seven terms at Western to com- plete. The growth of Western was dependent upon the laws governing teacher certification, and these laws gradually made the requirements higher and higher. The changes were meant to secure better teachers, but better teachers meant more professional training than the normal schools of- fered. In 1917 the curricula were overhauled exten- sively, and the requirements were made stiffer. In addition, the normal schools of Michigan were authorized to offer a third year of work beyond the customary two years leading to the life cer- tificate. This was not required, but was made so within the next decade, especially in light of what happened next. In 1918 the State Board authorized the teacher training schools to draw up curricula leading to the bachelors degree. Students could begin work- ing for this degree in 1919. In 1920 it was no longer possible to enter Western without gradua- tion from high school, for in that year the rural Course II was ended. Also, no more certificates were granted by means of extension work. All students now had to attend classes on the campus for a certain time. In 1924 the first bachelor of science degrees were offered, in manual arts and in physical education for women. No languages were required for the BS degree, as were required for the BA. In 192? it was possible to get a teachers life certificate by attending Western for tw o years. In 193? the minimum requirement was four years. This change had been urged by President Waldo for many years, and in 1923 he published an 14

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Waldo Stadium, built in 1936. this opportunity to secure the needed room for expansion that the postwar growth of the college would bring about. Accordingly, he asked the legislature for additional money, and received $75,000, which with the $50,000 given by Mrs. Kanley, went to buy all of the land in the triangle formed by the railroad. West Michigan avenue, and VandeGiessen road. Later, the Gateway Golf course was bought from the city of Kalama2;oo, thus extending the campus beyond VandeGiessen road. There was then enough land for the future growth of Western. The college bought about 40 acres on the other side of West Michigan ave ' nue, across from the Administration building, during 1953 ' 54, and this will provide room for even further expansion. The total acreage of the campus is now about 300 acres. The building program at Western started again after the war, and the Maintenance building was the first to be completed in 1947. Two faculty apartment houses were built on West Michigan avenue in 1948. The training school and the ad ' ministration building were connected by con ' struction of offices for the training school in 1948. Also, in 1948, Arcadia Club House was remodeled and enlarged into a cafeteria. More dormitories were needed, as there was room for only about 200 men and 300 women. Facilities for 1000 more students were planned. The first two units to be finished were Ernest Burnham and Smith Burnham Halls, in 1948 ' 49 and 1949 ' 50. The two units of the women ' s dorm, Draper Hall and Siedschlag Hall, were finished in February and September of 1950. A bequest from the estate of William Kanley helped build a chapel, construction of which start- ed in 1949 and which was finished in 1951. Ad ' ditional classroom space being needed, McCracken Hall was completed in the summer of 1949, and Maybee Hall was finished in September. McCrack en Hall provides outstanding facilities for science and the arts. Maybee Hall is one of the best music buildings belonging to any college of Western ' s si2;e in the country. The new administration building was completed in the summer of 1952, providing room for all of the administrative offices and twentyfour class- rooms, as well as a campus store, a branch library and a college post office. After the war, a number of veteran ' s housing units and numerous trailers were placed at the col- lege by the government. The trailers were taken away over a period of time, with the last being removed in 1953. At that time, construction of a new women ' s dormitory and of apartments for married students caused the removal of a number of the hutments. The apartment buildings have been finished and occupied since the spring semes ' ter of 1954. The land on which the trailers were parked is being cleared in readiness for construe ' tion of the new physical education buildings and fieldhouse. IJ

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article in the national Education Review en- titled Should the Two Year Normal Schools Become Four Year Teachers Colleges? Why? He offered 14 reasons why they should, and ar- gued his case well. The stature of Western was rising. In 1927 the legislature changed the name of the school to Western State Teachers College. The state continued to tighten up certification requirements, thus automatically forcing the ad- vancement of Western as a college. On April 27, 1934, the State Board of Education gave the state colleges of education the right to grant general degrees of bachelor of arts and bachelor of science to students who had taken four years of approved work even though they had no courses in pro- fessional education. science, and education, ended with a wide variety of courses in education from kindergarten to high school, many courses in pre-professional two and three year curricula as well as a few four year, nonteaching degree courses. In 1904 twelve departments offered seventy- eight courses. In 1936 twenty-three departments offered about 580 courses. The faculty mcreased accordingly, and today Western has more than 300 faculty members in 29 departments that offer more than a thousand courses. When Paul Sangren was appointed president in 1936, the standards previously mentioned were beginning to change the college. In 1938 the University of Michigan began graduate divisions in each of the colleges of education, and the mas- ■ »te =s ai» «!Bjii-}»Jlir, - A recent air view of the new campus. Upon this ruling the future development of the college rested. Western started in 1904 by en- rolhng students who had gone through the eighth grade, and after seven terms it graduated them as rural teachers. In 1936 it enrolled no one but high school graduates, and could offer them both education courses and non-education courses. The first four year non-teaching curriculum was social work. In thirty years Western had seen professional education standards raised to a high level, and finally, the beginning of the granting of non- teaching degrees. In both of these areas the col- lege enlarged the number of subjects taught. As a result this thirty year period which began with rudimentary courses in drawing, music, natural ters degree in education could be worked for at Western. In September of 1952 graduate work was entirely separated from the University, and Western granted its own masters degrees. In the field of undergraduate education curri- cula the greatest change came in the business edu- cation, music, home economics, and the special education areas. The most important changes were in the non-teaching curricula. In 1936 there were only two four-year courses, social work and the general degree. Pre-professional curricula were offered in medicine, business administration, den- tistry, engineering, forestry, journalism, law, and pharmacy. Today the non-teaching curricula are divided into two groups — those which prepare the student to go to other schools for professional IS